Cartridge-clip and gun.



No. 668,392. Patontul m. I9, I90.

. A. u. nussELL.

CARTRIDGE cur mm auu.

. (Application filed Oct. 6, 1900.)

(NoModeL) NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CARTRIDGE-CLIP ANDIGUN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 668,392, dated February 19, 1901.

Application filed October 6, 1900. Serial No. 32,290. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW H. RUSSELL, of the United States Army, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cartridge-Clips and Guns, of which the following is a specification, reference being bad,

struct a loading-clip that it may be cheaply made and be efficient to hold a number of cartridgessay fivein a compact packet for transportation or handling, and, further, to so adapt the clip and gun to each other that when the clip and cartridges are fed into the magazine of a gun the cartridges shall bereleased from the clip at the proper place and the clip then remain inert as to retaining the cartridges, free to be removed or to fallfrom the gun, and incapable of rising in the magazine to act as a clog to the action of the gun, and the construction of the clip and of the gun both tend to produce the desired result.

In my Patent No. 501,367, of July 11, 1893, I illustrate a gun adapted for use with the clip of the present invention save for the modifications I will hereinafter describe, and other well-known guns may be adapted by similar slight changes-for instance, the gun known as the Lee navy straight-pull guna weapon well known to military and naval authorities, and there are other guns known to experts in this art easily convertible to include the present invention.

The present invention of clip is an improvement on that shown in Fig; 16 of the drawings of my said patent and is substantially that embodied in my application for patent, Serial No. 658,334, filed November 12, 1897, and allowed August 6, 1900, which application I hereby declare my intention to abandon provided the present application, embodying identical claims, is allowed.

.Figure 1 is a front view of my improved clip. Fig. 2 is a rear view showing position of cartridges in clip. Fig. 3 is a side view of clip, showing also in dotted lines an incline supposed to be in the gun andindicating the action of such incline on the detent of the clip. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are end views of the clip, enlarged, and difiering slightly in construction or position, as will be explained. Fig. 7 is a perspective of detents, and Fig 8 a perspective of clip-trough. Fig. 9 isaside elevation of clip filled with cartridges. Fig. 10 is a broken vertical section of part of gun, showing part of the clip and cartridges and the action of the gun thereon; and Fig. 11 is a slight modification of gun in same relation to clip. Fig. 12 is a horizontal section of partof gun-magazine with clip and cartridge therein.

A represents a metallic trough having edges A turned over to inclose cartridge heads or flanges, aconstruction well known. B indicates a spring-detent attached to the back of the clip by rivets D or in other suitable manner. There are two detents B B, which may be in one or two pieces, as shown in Figs. 2 and 7. The body of the clip or trough A is cut away at diagonally opposite corners, and the books or catches O 0' extend over the end of the trough to act as a holder to prevent the escape of cartridges from the trough. The normal position of the detent is close against the trough, with the hook extending over the end of the trough. (See Figs. 5 and 9.)

An arm E (or E) projects from the side of the detent B (or B) beyond the side of the trough and preferably turns forward. A backward pressure at the end of this arm causes the detent to spring back and move the hook from over the cartridge-heads,so that the cartridges may slip out of the end of the trough. Close alongside the detent I show a stop or detent-holder H. This stop may be a little nib 0t the metal of the trough turned back from the body or end of the trough or it may be a pin or boss otherwise secured to the trough and preferably standing at an incline, as indicated in the drawings. When the detent is pressed back far enough to release the cartridges, it springs over the stop and is thus held from again closing to stop the cartridges. The elasticity necessary to produce this stop action may be either in the-detent or in the stop H.

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It is desirable that only one of the detents be pressed back While the clip is in the gun; but as it is important that the clip may be entered either end up in the magazine the clip is provided with a detent at each end, as incated, although the detent at the end of the clip which is first entered in the magazine is not intended to be detached at all.

The gun has a magazine of usual construction, provided with a follower and means for retaining the cartridges in the magazine and for manipulating them, as in the patent referred to or in other known and usual manner. The only modifications inthe guns necessary to adapt them for this invention is t-o provide at the side ofthe clip-passage of the magazine an incline 0, which will act against the upper detent or the arm E thereof to press the detent back when the clip has been fully entered in the magazine, the body of clip resting against rear wall or a projection thereon. (See Figs. 10 and 12.) When so pressed back, the detent is held back by the engagement of the stop H therewith, so that thedetent cannot again close over the head of the cartridge.

In order that. the detent itself may act as a catch to prevent the subsequent rising of the clip, whereby the gun might be clogged and disabled, the incline 0 maybe made to press back the detent a trifle farther than is needfnl to release the cartridges. The arm 1E will then move under the lower shoulder of the incline O, which becomes an abutment to prevent the rising of the clip should the action of the follower tend to lift the clip with the cartridges, or the abutment-shoulder P on the gun in rear of the clip may project above the detentwhen the detent is in its open position and so prevent the rising of the clip, so that the soldier need pay no more attention to the clip after he has once entered it in the mag-- azine of his gun. It the clip has not been en tered so that the detent has been detached, the clip and cartridges will remain together, when their rising will not disable the gun and will be immediately noticed. if the clip has been entered far enough to cause the release of the top detent, the clip cannot then work upward to serve as a clog to the mechanism of the gun.

I have submitted to the United Stated Patent Ofiicea specimen of the clip manufactured in this country by me prior to June 13, 1896, and made oath to the completion of the invention therein embodied prior to that date.

.Such is believed tobe a practical embodi-.

ment of the claims relating to the construction of clips. What I claim herein is- 1. A cartridge-clip having a spring-detent and a detent-holder in position to retain said detent in its open position, substantially as described. 7 V

2. A cartridge-clip having a spring-detentolosing over its head, and a detent-holder to retain said detent in open position, in combination with means for forcing back said deceases tent by the feed of the clip into the receiver or magazine, substantially as described.

3. A cartridge-clip consisting of a sheetmetal trough, the spring-detent attached to said trough and extending over the cartridgeflange, and a stop on said clip to hold the detent open, substantially as described.

- 4. A cartridge-clip consisting of a sheetmetal trough, detents at diagonally opposite corners and projecting over the ends thereof,

and means on the trough-forholding the (19- tents open, substantially as described.

5. A cart ridge-clip consisting essentially of a sheet-metal trough, and a separate spring,- detent applied at each end thereof and having a hook extending over the ends of the trough, each detent having a trip-arm extending beyond the side of the trough and thence projecting forward at the side of the trough, substantiallyas described.

6. A cartridge-clip consisting of a sheetmetal trough with its obliquely opposite corners cut away, separate spring-detents connected to the trough and having hooks projecting over the cut-away corners of thetrough, and trip-arms connected to said detents and projecting beyond the sides of the trough, substantially as described.

7 The cartridge-clip consisting of a sheetmetal trough, a cartridge-detent connected thereto in position to engage the cartridgefiange and having a trip-arm extending beyond the side of the trough, combined with a gun having a passage through which the clip may be fed, leaving the cartridges behind, said gun havingan inclined piece in the path of movement of said trip-arm by which the detent is released, substantially as described.

8. The combination of a gun having a magazine-receptacle for cartridges and a passage through the gun in proximity to the magazine through which the clip may pass, leaving the cartridges behind in the magazine, and an incline at the side of said clip-passage and out of line of the movement of the clipbody, of a cartridge-clip having a spring-detent with a trip-arm projecting at the side, in position to engage the incline in the gun and release the detent as the clip moves down in the magazine, substantially as described.

9. The combination, with a sheet-metal clip havinga movable detent and an arm connected to said detent and projecting beyond the side of the clip, of a gun with a magazine having a passage for the clip entirely through the gun, and an incline at the sideof said passage with which the arm of the detent engages and by which it is detached from the cartridges as the clip moves through the gun, substantially as described. 1

,lO. A cartridge-holdingclip and! a springdetent therefor in positionto retain cartridges in the clip, a gun having a passage through which the clip moves leaving the cartridges behind in the gun, means for detaching the clip from the cartridges by the movement of theclip in the gun, and means for retaining 12.' The combination with a cartridge-retaining clip, a spring-detent therefor, and

means for holding the spring open in all positions of the clip after the first opening, of 15 a gun-magazine having an incline by which the detent is opened, and an abutment extending above the opened detent, but permitting the downward movement of the clip without closing the detent, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ANDREW H. RUSSELL.

Witnesses:

CHAS. E. RIORDON, W. A. BARTLETT. 

